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Serbian Patriarch meets with Director of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service

25. August 2011 - 10:58

His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch along with his Vicar, Bishop Atanasije of Hvosno received on August 23, 2011 in an official visit, Director of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, Mr. Viktor Ivanov.

In discussion significant issues of drug trafficking were pointed out, which do not just represent a criminal offense, but also entail many other misdeeds. Mr. Ivanov informed His Holliness with results of the research of his Federal Service regarding a distribution of narcotics that finance later a variety of illegal activities of certain criminal structures, which do not care about the spiritual, moral, and mental health of those who were caught into the trap of drug addiction, but exclusively a personal and quick gain.

His Holiness stressed the necessity of clear, open fight against the abuse of human freedom, as well as a need to reconsider the use of media, which often display inappropriate content of false life values, which the young, lacking their experience, often try to apply in your life, and then it takes them to the murky waters of trade ir use of drugs, as well as into many other forms of criminal activity. In any case, it is about the immaturity and an escape from reality, not being prepared to deal with all challenges that life itself brings and takes.

The meeting was attended also by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ivica Dacic, H.E. Ambassador of the Rusian Federation Mr. Aleksandar V. Konuzin, Deputy Director of Police Mr. Branislav Mitrovic, and protopresbyter-staurophor Vitaly Tarasyev, the head of the Representation of the Moscow Patriarchate in Belgrade.